This September, we at the Long Tom Watershed Council announce the departure of our Operations Director, Rob Hoshaw. As you can tell from its many ongoing accomplishments, some of which are reflected in this month’s newsletter, the Council is blessed with an array of professionals committed to making lasting transformations for our local lands and waterways. In the background of all of these feats has been Rob. Rob’s titles over the years, from operations manager to operations director to interim executive director, have never covered the breadth of his responsibilities. Grant writing, strategic planning, financial management, community outreach, supervising staff, and managing administrative systems cover only the surface of the responsibilities Rob has handled for everyone here with grace and an ever-present smile. We would have to hire three people to fill the roles Rob has provided for us. Over the past year while serving as our interim executive director, he worked especially hard to provide support to the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program.
Rob’s dedication, talents, and kindness have been gifts to all of us. In the end, our community has benefitted the most from Rob. He has contributed to virtually everything we have ever been able to bring to the community in the past 14 years.
We all wish Rob a future of joy and fulfillment in his life and career. I hope you will join us on Thursday, November 2, 2023 in Eugene at our Annual Meeting & Celebration where you will be able to celebrate and thank Rob and other heroes of our community. Before that, join us on September 14 for a fascinating project tour of the newly installed rain gardens at the Willamette Christian Center.
– Steve Dear, Executive Director
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“In September, I will be bidding a fond and bittersweet farewell to the Long Tom Watershed Council after 13.5 years as its operations manager/director. While I’ll be starting a new chapter in my life as a grant writer for a national nonprofit, I will always cherish the relationships I’ve made with the staff, board, partners, and the watershed community.
I showed up to my interview in 2010 as a fresh-faced kid just out of grad school, decked out in a full suit and tie and a towel stowed away in my glove box so I could wipe my sweaty palms before going in. I don’t remember much about what I said during that interview, but I do recall how kind everyone was to me, and I saw immediately the deep commitment and passion they had for the Long Tom. It was more than about applying for a job, it was about joining a community, and that has stuck with me.
What’s also always struck me is how connected people
are to the Long Tom Watershed as a place, and how caring for the health of our land and water is such a galvanizing goal among people from all backgrounds and lived experiences. One of our taglines is “neighbors working together on land and water issues” and that’s absolutely the truth. I’ve seen us accomplish so much together as neighbors and a shared community through the watershed council’s approach of voluntary, community-based learning, restoration, and stewardship. To name a just few of our many accomplishments together: the complete restoration of year-round fish passage on four streams; the expansion of our Uplands Program to include reintroducing prescribed and cultural burning to the landscape; the launch of the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program; and most recently, our largest grant ever at over $5 million in support of improving our urban waterways and built environment.
I will carry many fond memories and stories of my time here. During my first summer, I shadowed Jed Kaul on a snorkel survey of Ferguson Creek. The day before, he suggested I wear long sleeves and pants. Given that it was a hot, 85-degree day, I ignored his advice and arrived in shorts and a T-shirt. By the end of the survey, I’d become very well acquainted with our native trailing blackberry and looked like I’d wrestled a bobcat. Suffice to say, I learned my lesson, but that first introduction to the creek through an otter’s eye view — which was like immersing myself in a whole other, wonderful world — was priceless.
I’ll always remember my first project tour at Laughing Stock Farm and the sun setting behind the rolling hills south of Coyote Creek; my first annual celebration at Diamond Woods Golf Course and the incredible sense of community and camaraderie that’s been the hallmark of every celebration. It brings a smile to remember training volunteers in how to carefully insert tracking tags into the bellies of (mostly) anesthetized trout with a surgical scalpel. Thankfully, my hands were (slightly) less shaky than during my interview. And, after I was hired, I’ll always remember then board chair Jim Pendergrass pulling me aside with a wink to say, “I hope that’s the last time we see you in a tie.” I think that was his way of telling me that working with the Council is more like being among friends than business colleagues, and I’ve found that’s absolutely true.
I’m forever grateful to that hiring committee, and especially Dana Dedrick, for taking a chance on me. I’ve worked more closely with the Council’s executive directors than anyone else, and LTWC has had some phenomenal directors in Dana and Clinton Begley, both of whom I consider tremendous mentors, and now in Steve Dear. I look forward to watching the Council continue to accomplish great things under the leadership of Steve and the board, behind its amazing, top-notch staff, and especially from the contributions of this wonderful watershed community.
It’s been an honor and privilege to work with all of you. I will be at the Willamette Christian Center project tour on September 14th and I expect to attend the Council’s annual celebration on November 2nd, so I look forward to seeing some of you then!”
– Rob Hoshaw